Tom Rock's Giants grades for Week 1

OFFENSE: D

If the offense continues to fail in converting their and-shorts, this season could become very long. The Giants had a fourth-and-1 and a third-and-1 in the second half and failed on both. Tipped passes continue to be an issue for Eli Manning, although on his interception yesterday he had only himself and not a receiver to blame when Ryan Kerrigan tipped a screen pass and scored. Ahmad Bradshaw had 13 carries for 44 yards, none of them longer than 7 yards. Brandon Jacobs looked strong, but was not in the backfield for the short-yardage situations. Hakeem Nicks caught 7 passes for 122 yards, but 68 of them came on one play.

DEFENSE: C

Considering they were without four starters, it wasn't a poor effort by the Giants. Not that they used that as an excuse. The play-action passes of Rex Grossman (21-for-34, 305 yards) continued to baffle the linebackers and secondary. Aaron Ross, playing for the injured Terrell Thomas, did not have a standout game. Still, the defense forced a turnover in the fourth quarter that should have resulted in a tie game. And they held Tim Hightower to 72 rushing yards on 25 carries that would have been 50 yards on 24 carries but for a 22-yarder. Ravaged by injuries, it was supposed to be the defense that would have difficulty. They didn't dominate, but they weren't terrible either.

SPECIAL TEAMS: F

Lawrence Tynes had a field goal blocked and said his injured leg was tired after warm-ups, something the coaching staff probably would have liked to know before they released Rhys Lloyd last week. Steve Weatherford punted six times but had none inside the 20. Domenik Hixon had two punt returns for 27 yards but Devin Thomas lacked the fire he showed in the preseason when returning kickoffs. One of them he even let bounce in the field of play where it was covered by D.J. Ware. That could have been a disaster. Of the Giants' eight penalties, four were against the special teams.

COACHING: D

Did Tom Coughlin and the staff put too much pressure on the Giants to represent their city on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11? The Giants usually respond to such challenges, but this may have been too heavy of a load to carry for any team. After the Redskins tied the score late in the second quarter, the Giants had it at their 20 with 37 seconds remaining and all three timeouts but chose to run one running play and let the clock expire. Coughlin challenged a reception by the Redskins' Jabar Gaffney that was overturned.